Harman Kardon AVR 235 7.1 Channel Audio / Video Receiver

Rating:
Summary: Dont underestimate the Manufacturers power rating
Review: First off I would like to say that althought the manufacturer rates this receiver at 50w x 7. This receiver has more power than a Sony one that i have that is 110w x 7. The hook up is the same as any other receiver. The set up can be done on the display of the receiver, or if you have it hooked up to a tv you can do the set up on the tv screen which is really easy. The remote is a little much, but i controls almost every function that is available on the receiver. I have used a harman/kardon receiver in the past, and i would say that you will blow a set of speakers with it before you blow the receiver. Along with functioning well the receiver looks pretty good too. (the halo lighting on the hollow volume knob)

Rating:
Summary: Great sound, high build quality, and power to spare!
Review: This is my second 7.1 channel surround receiver. I also own a Yamaha flagship THX 110W/ch receiver, the RX-V1400. The Yamaha has more sound processing options, but sometimes less is more. Both are high current amps and both have the self-calibrating feature (YPAO on the Yamaha and EzSet on the Harman Kardon). The Yamaha is in a 23'x20' upstairs media room and the AVR235 is in a 30'x25' open downstairs living area. Both of the amps produce extremely clean sound, both have power to spare (even though the AVR235 is rated considerably less and is in a larger space), and both have very high build quality. The Yamaha is more suited to a micro-managing audiophile and the Harman Kardon is more of a plug and play style receiver. The Yamaha has more knobs and options, but it also requires more attention. On the Yamaha unit, you have to manually enable Dolby Digital EX/DTS ES processing every time you turn the unit on even though in the setup it knows you have a full 7.1 speaker package. I guess it assumes that my rear surrounds are intended to be decorative. Basically, it is dumb and assumes that you know it is dumb and that you will tell it what you want it to do. Except for the parametric EQ, which is smart, except it doesn't necessarily sound great and is best that it is defeated in favor of the manual EQ. It took me approximately three weeks of tweaking to get the sound like I wanted. The Harman Kardon on the other hand is very user friendly. It has an on-screen display (my only gripe is that you must use this) for configuring the many inputs and outputs. It makes very logical assumptions. If you have seven speakers and a subwoofer, it assumes that you want to listen to Dolby Digital material using all of those speakers (EX); however, if you prefer 5.1 or even stereo from your Dolby Digital you can override the 7.1 selection. There are no hidden EQs or too much bloated software that may overprocess the signal and actually degrade the quality in the end. The AVR235 still has the bass and treble controls in the form of knobs on the front of the unit, could it be any simpler. It took me approximately thirty minutes to get the Harman Kardon to sound like I wanted it to sound. The Harman Kardon simply adheres to the principles of K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid). It has everything you may need (front optical and coaxial digital inputs, 7.1ch pre-amp input,etc.), but lacks all of the things that you probably don't need that only get in the way. It is an efficiently engineered marvel whose sound quality rivals and probably even exceeds any other brands flagship receiver lines (yes... even you Marantz, Denon, and others) in the under 2k category. It may seem expensive to some, but in its feature/function class it is less than half of the price of most and is probably almost twice as good. Don't even question the power rating vs. other receivers because the power may be rated less on the Harman, but the unit has a clean sound over the entire power range. Unlike other receivers that have high power rating, and very little signal clarity once truly pushed to the limit. Remember it is not about pure wattage into an 8 ohm load (because a speakers impedance is actually dynamic across a range of frequencies since a speaker is inductive), but rather it is about how much current the amplifier can supply that contributes to what you hear. You have to ask yourself this question: Do you really want a concert hall DSP setting that overprocesses a perfectly good signal to make it sound like a cellphone ringtone being emitted from the bottom of a deep well? If you do, then this is not the receiver for you. If you want the best sound possible at a very good price, then look no further. It may also be nice to know that you will be supporting a U.S. based tech company.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT buy
Review: This reciever is great! It sounds and looks awsome. Don't be fooled by the low watts rating. Sound quality is in the brand not the watts. I really like the volume halo ring. This is a very high quality reciever and I highly recommend it to others. Harman Kardon is the way to go.

The reciever shipped very fast also.